Monday, January 17, 2011

We left from the fuel dock in Carenage in Fort de France almost at noon sharp on the 15th. At first, it looked liike we were going to have a nice wind on the starboard hind quarter, but this hope was short lived. It took us the best part of one full day to extricate ourselves from the wind shadow of Martinique. And in the first 24 hours, we only covered 126 miles through the water (137 over the ground). But fortunately, once clear of the land, the wind came as promised and in the last 24 hours we have covered 159 miles through the water and 167 over the ground, thanks to a nice half knot current.The only problem is that I have had to change my plans and instead of exiting the Caribbean sea through the Mona passage, I will exit east of Porto Rico around Virgin Gorda as the forecast promises us more wind that way. But the overall distance between Martinique and Lucaya becomes 1304 miles instead of 1240. And we are watching our estimated time of arrival very closely since Olivier has to fly from Freeport to Miami on the 28 at 14:00.If the forecast is correct, we should keep a little bit of wind until we reach Puerto Plata. At that point, we will be within range, in terms of fuel, of Highborne cay in the Exumas, where we could refuel if necessary.To get to Lucaya on time for the flight, we only need 3.7 knots average, and Papy Jovial has never been that slow, so I am not too worried about catching that flight. But I would prefer to arrive around the 25 and that only requires 5 knots average, which is doable.Time will tell. In the meantime, having some wind means also having some seas and being back, in a small way, in the shaker. After one month cruising in Martinique, we had almost forgotten, but it will come back quickly.